I wonder how many runners or swimmers put in the time and effort that us BOPer do.
The AG (as in kids - pre HS and HS), serious swimmers have got you beat - often 14 practices a week or 20 hrs a week.
that’s all I’m going to add to this thread because it’s DUMB.
I agree, just a Troll. But, I needed a break between painting the house.
I don’t think triathletes are lazy. Most of the triathletes I know in real life train hard and are legitimately fast in at least one of the individual sports, if not two or even all three.
That said, I can see how one would get that impression from reading slowtwitch. I found this quote on a cycling blog the other day -
"In bike racing, your wallet depth means nothing. You won’t win a race because you wear a pair of Oakleys. You won’t win because you ride a carbon fiber bike, and you won’t lose because of your steel bike. Having mud on your bike will not lose you the race, and neither will the brand name and model of your shifter, or the color of your shoes or the color of your teams clothing.
In bike racing, your bike is a tool, not a jewel. To waste money on expensive parts that will “help” you is to distract oneself of the truth; that the man, not the machine, wins the race."
To me, that pretty much sums up the exact opposite attitude to what I see on here most days.
Although we must decide whether Alanis was using verbal irony, dramatic irony, or *irony of situation. *It seems to me if you have “10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife”, you could possibly be dealing with a form of *irony of situation, *which is a discrepancy between the actual and expected results. Although I must admit this is a borderline example, and would be open to further criticism.
I, myself, feel the need to extricate my bowels now and must leave this forum. Of course if I end up only passing gas…now that would be a true irony of situation!
You could probably sell 9,999 of them, buy a fork and a knife and maybe even a ZIPP 
I mean are you a loser eating all alone with nobody to trade for a knife?
If you’re all alone, what the hell do you need a knife for, eat with your damn hands.
Worried about getting dirty, use the knives like chopsticks. I have married into a Chinese family and three of my dinner meals a week are with chopsticks and Momma Yau doesn’t pre-cut my good 
That said, though nothing ironic in the song, I still liked it.
You could probably sell 9,999 of them, buy a fork and a knife and maybe even a ZIPP
I mean are you a loser eating all alone with nobody to trade for a knife?
If you’re all alone, what the hell do you need a knife for, eat with your damn hands.
Worried about getting dirty, use the knives like chopsticks. I have married into a Chinese family and three of my dinner meals a week are with chopsticks and Momma Yau doesn’t pre-cut my good
That said, though nothing ironic in the song, I still liked it.
I understand what you’re saying and I think you are, for the most part, correct. However, I don’t think “lazy” is the right word to describe the problem you’re talking about. I think there are several factors that shape this particular issue:
Shrewd marketing: The triathlon companies have done a great job at making many of us believe that we must have all the toys to do well in our sport. Also, a lot of people equate proficiency with expense – the more equipment I have (and the better the equipment is), the better I will be. That’s not necesarily the case though the marketing folks don’t want you to know that.
Getting involved in the sport later in life: Most of us weren’t single sport athletes in high school or college. (Or at least the in the individual sports that make up triathlon. For example, I played tennis but didn’t swim, bike or run). We’ve come to the sport late and have missed out on the learning curve, particularly with swimming, that leads to fast performances.
Hectic lifestyles/work and family obligations: I know how I SHOULD train and I know the time I NEED to put into the sport to do well but it’s just not there. Two small kids, two jobs, and a life outside of triathlon make it almost impossible to train more than 10 hours a week. In fact, I haven’t done more than 9:15 in a week this year (which is why I only do sprints). I doubt I’m the only one affected by this.
The fascination with going long: Many triathletes believe that you’re not a “real” triathlete if you don’t do long course events. As such, they get caught up in the LSD trap (the training, not the drug) and never learn how to be fast. Fleck says this a lot and gets flamed for it from time to time, but it’s a great idea to spend a few years doing shorter races and pushing the intensity envelope so you know how to get fast. Then, after you develop some speed, move up to half IM and IM distance races. And even then, I think people have the mistaken belief that higher intensity workouts aren’t necessary for training for longer events. If you train slow all the time, you’re going to be slow on race day – no matter what the distance. Fast people train fast.
“Everybody’s a winner”: We’ve been taught to believe that just finishing an event is good enough. If you show up, toe the line and finish the race, you’re a champion no matter where you finish. That’s a nice feel-good philosophy, and in some cases may have some merit, but it leads to mediocrity. If you feel like a winner just for finishing, that’s all you’re ever going to strive to do. Very few people actually race a triathlon, particularly as the distances get longer. How many people actually run the run in a half IM or IM? Maybe 10 percent? Less than that? If finishing is good enough, there is no incentive to get faster.
A belief that complicated training plans are better: To me, this one is related to marketing. We feel that the more complicated and in-depth training plans are, the better they are. Training for triathlon isn’t very difficult to grasp – get out and do the three sports regularly, push the pace, get out of your comfort zone, and repeat, week after week after week. It’s simple yet effective. And once in while, do something that hurts. Get out of zones 1 and 2, and into 4 and 5.
And don’t think that this is coming from an elitist who routinely podiums in races. I’m an average triathlete who has fallen victim to probably all of these points at one time or another. I’ve done one IM – a 15:14 effort. I had a mechanical on the bike that cost me about an hour. But guess what – I’m still not impressed by a 14 hour IM. I know I can do better. However, I won’t do another one until I have the time (and, maybe more importantly, the motivation) to train properly. I don’t want to just finish – I’d like to race it. Right now, I’m not in a position to race a half IM or IM. So I’ll keep doing the short stuff. I seldom think about my IM. I don’t make a big deal about it. I’m just not that impressed with it. I didn’t finish because I was in fantastic shape; I finished because I had a high threshhold for boredom. At the end of the day, that’s what gets most IM competitors through the event.
But I digress. Even though we may be comparatively weak in the individual sports, people are getting out and exercising, which is a good start. We just need to get beyond the belief that just finishing is good enough. Too many are stuck there, for a variety of reasons.